THURSDAY'S SCORES
@Morehead State 70, UT Martin 69 (OT)
@Little Rock 60, SIUE 56
@Southeast Missouri 79, Eastern Illinois 72
Tennessee Tech 79, @Lindenwood 73
@Southern Indiana 77, Tennessee State 75
MOREHEAD STATE 70, UT MARTIN 69 (OT)
MOREHEAD, Ky. - Trailing 69-64 with 1:18 left in the overtime period, the Morehead State Men's Basketball team dug as deep as it could and found one last rally as the Eagles came back to defeat UT Martin 70-69 in overtime in both squads' Ohio Valley Conference openers Thursday at Johnson Arena.
Sophomore Jerone Morton scored a team (and career-high) high 18 points, including a wrap-around layup with 15 seconds left in the overtime to seal the win. UT Martin's Tarence Guinyard missed a layup and a tip-in attempt as time expired. Morton scored 15 of his 18 in the final 20 minutes and the extra five, and he also led the team with a career-high seven assists.
Morton also scored the game-tying basket in the regulation, scoring a jumper with 27 seconds left before UTM turned the ball over with four ticks left.
Morehead State has now won 16 straight home games versus UT Martin, with the last UTM win in Johnson Arena coming back on Dec. 19, 2005.
MSU also got 13 points from starter Tyler Brelsford. Steven Clay came off the bench to score 11, including three triples. The Eagles won the battle of rebounds as well, grabbing 39 to the Skyhawks' 36. Kenny White, Jr., corralled a team-best nine boards, one short of his career high.
Guinyard led four UTM players in double figures with 17 points.
MSU ended with a season-best nine blocked shots as well, as Anouar Mellouk swatted four.
The first half featured a back-and-forth battle that resulted in the teams going to the locker room tied 31-all.
MSU fell behind by as much as 11 (44-33) in the final half before rallying late. The final eight minutes featured no UTM lead greater than five.
LITTLE ROCK 60, SIUE 56
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. - The night began and ended with a celebration Thursday at the Jack Stephens Center. Before the game, the Little Rock men's basketball team's 2024 Ohio Valley Conference championship banner was unveiled. Fans cheered again at the end of night after the Trojans (7-5, 1-0) held on to beat SIU-Edwardsville, 60-56.
Little Rock's OVC regular-season win streak grew to 10 games dating back to a victory over the Cougars (7-5, 0-1) last winter.
Mwani Wilkinson, who left the game momentarily when he went down hard early in the second half after blocking a shot, led Little Rock with 16 points and 6 rebounds. Isaiah Lewis and Ante Beljan, who blocked four shots, totaled 13 points apiece and Johnathan Lawson led the team with 10 rebounds and chipped in 12 points. He also led the Trojans with 7 assists.
SIUE's Ray'Sean Taylor led all scorers with 18 points but was only 3-of-10 from the field. Taylor is one of the more prolific scores in the nation and averages 17 ppg. Only one other Cougar scored in double figures. Little Rock stifled SIUE to just 32.2% shooting from the field, including 28% from the three-point line.
Little Rock won the rebounding battle, 41-39.
The Trojans led 30-22 at halftime and increased their lead early in the second half as Wilkinson hit a jumper on Little Rock's first possession, but he exited the game hobbling moments after. While he was sidelined, the margin grew to as many as 13.
A pair of SIUE free throws whittled the lead down to five with 1:34 remaining, but Wilkinson answered with a three-pointer to make it a 56-48 lead with just over a minute to play. Beljan added one of two free throws on the next possession and Little Rock led by nine.
However, some Little Rock missed free throws down the stretch kept the door open for SIUE, and they only trailed by three with nine seconds left, but Beljan hit a free throw to push the lead to four with under a second left.
SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 79, EASTERN ILLINOIS 72
CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. - Teddy Washington, Jr. had a double-double 28 points and 10 rebounds to lead Southeast Missouri (5-6, 1-0) to a 79-72 win over Eastern Illinois (3-8, 0-1) Thursday night in the Ohio Valley Conference opener for both teams.
SEMO did not trail for the second-straight game and began OVC play with a win for the second year in a row.
After EIU made it a one-point game to start the second half, Washington, Jr. took over.
He did not miss a field goal (5-of-5) in the first 7:16 of the second half. He nailed a 3-pointer, was fouled and converted a 4-point play to give the Redhawks a 55-45 advantage with 13:42 remaining.
Washington, Jr. accounted for six of his team's first 10 made field goals in the second half and scored 24 points in the final 20 minutes of play. His fifth 3-pointer pushed SEMO's lead to 67-51 with just under eight minutes left.
A native of Blytheville, Arkansas, Washington, Jr. shot a scorching 72.7 percent (8-of-11) and made five 3-pointers in his huge second half.
SEMO scored seven of the game's first eight points and quickly went ahead by six on Elliot Lowndes dunk just 2:07 into the contest.
After Kooper Jacobi made a layup to get EIU within two (19-17), SEMO went on a 7-2 run. Rob Martin knocked down a 3-pointer to cap the surge which extended the Redhawks lead to 26-19 with 8:18 remaining in the first half.
Lowndes' layup later gave the Redhawks their biggest lead of the half at 32-24 with a little over six minutes left.
EIU countered by scoring nine of the next 13 points and trimmed SEMO's lead to 36-33 on a step back jumper by Malik Olafioye.
SEMO, despite going the final 6:07 of the first half without a field goal, kept a 38-35 edge at the intermission.
The Redhawks didn't trail and assisted all 12 of their made field goals in the opening stanza.
Washington, Jr. shot 8-of-15 from the field, 5-of-10 from 3-point range and a perfect 7-of-7 at the free throw line in 38 minutes. His 28 points and 10 rebounds both matched season-highs. It was his team-high third double-double, as well.
Brendan Terry followed with 13 points as SEMO shot a season-best 56.3 percent (27-of-48) from the floor. The Redhawks knocked down 10 or more three-pointer for the fourth time this year.
TENNESSEE TECH 79, LINDENWOOD 73
ST. CHARLES, Mo. - Great shooting from distance and at the charity stripe was enough to help the Tennessee Tech men's basketball team pick up its first Ohio Valley Conference win, gather its first road victory of the season, and snap a four-game skid as the Golden Eagles topped Lindenwood, 79-73, at Hyland Arena Thursday evening.
The purple and gold (5-7, 1-1) unleashed a lethal attack from downtown in the opening half in St. Charles, Mo., finishing 7-for-11 to make up for nine turnovers. Heading into the break, the Golden Eagles led the Lions (5-7, 0-1) 42-39 thanks to the seventh triple of the night off the hand of sophomore guard Kyle Layton.
Senior guard and local Rickman native Matthew Sells kept the Cookeville crew in the ballgame in an up-and-down opening stanza, hitting all four of his tries from deep. Sells knocked down a pair on back-to-back treys on the fastbreak early in the contest and then.
After the Golden Eagles fell behind by nine with just under six minutes to go in the first half, Sells doubled down with back-to-back buckets from beyond the arc again, cutting the deficit to just three.
In the second half, the visitors poured it on early, methodically pushing its advantage over the Lions out to 13 points with a little under 10 minutes to play. Lindenwood held the Golden Eagles scoreless for nearly six minutes to pull back within just two points at the 3:35 mark and made it a two-point match-up again with 1:41 to go.
The Lions had a chance to square the clash with 59 seconds on the clock, but missed back-to-back free throws. Tech called for a timeout and drew up a great play for senior forward Rodney Johnson Jr. The veteran delivered a highlight-reel dunk in traffic to make it a four-point game and all but clinch a purple and gold victory with 41 seconds to play.
The Golden Eagles closed things out down the stretch, sinking all six of their free-throw tries over the closing 22 seconds. For the night, Tech shot 45.8 percent from past the party line and finished an efficient 14-of-17 from the charity stripe.
The Cookeville crew also earned a slight edge on the glass, hauling 39 boards to Lindenwood's 38. Tech cut the turnovers down to six in the second half as well and held the Lions to just 3-for-18 shooting from deep in the contest.
Topping the scoring charts on the night with a career-high 22 points, junior guard Jaylon Johnson tallied a pair of treys with six free throws and seven assists in 38 minutes of action. Sells closed his night with 12 points and a pair of dimes.
Layton tacked on 11 points with a team-high three steals in the affair, draining a trio of triples and snagging four boards. Junior forward Ola Ajiboye just missed a double-double, ending his night with season-highs of 10 points and nine rebounds. He also dished out three assists.
Johnson Jr. produced nine points while snagging seven boards and two steals. In just over 15 minutes off the bench, junior guard Ray Glasgow turned in nine points and six rebounds. Sophomore forward JaJuan Nicholls chipped in six points and four boards off the bench as well.
SOUTHERN INDIANA 77, TENNESSEE STATE 75
EVANSVILLE, Ind. - University of Southern Indiana Men's Basketball rallied in the final minute to post a 77-75 victory over Tennessee State University Thursday evening at Liberty Arena. The Screaming Eagles are 6-5 overall and start OVC action 1-0, while the Tigers are 4-8, 0-1 OVC.
The victory moves the Eagles over the .500 mark for the first time this season and first time since the end of the 2022-23 regular season.
Neither team could gain control through the first few minutes of the opening half until the Eagles built a 29-19 lead with 8:09 remaining before halftime. USI junior guard Damoni Harrison led the offensive surge with 11 points during a 19-10 run. Harrison would finish the first half with a team-best 14 points.
TSU bounced back and erased the 10-point USI lead on a 13-2 dash to regain the lead, 34-32. The Tigers also would hit a three-pointer with no time remaining on the clock to close out the half with a 40-39 advantage.
The first four minutes of the game were tarnished when a hard foul caused a disturbance on the court that resulted in four technicals and a pair of ejections (TSU's Antoine Lorick and USI's junior guard Jared Washington) at 15:56.
The Eagles and Tigers traded the lead seven times in the first eight minutes of the second half until USI started to take control with a 55-54 advantage at 12:07. USI would increase the lead to as many as four points twice and would hold onto the lead for the next five minutes when TSU knotted the score at 61-61 for the third tie of the half.
Following a four-point lead, 65-61, by the Tigers, the Eagles rallied to tie, 65-65, with 4:01 left on a fast break layup by Harrison. The lead would continue to exchange hands seven times in the next three minutes until TSU took the lead, 75-74, with 45 seconds left.
After the Tigers missed the front end of a one-and-one trip to the line with eight seconds remaining, USI junior guard Jack Campion used a 10-foot jumper to put the Eagles in the lead for good, 76-75, with 1.9 remaining on the clock. Campion's shot was from inside the key and almost identical to the game-winner he hit versus Bellarmine University just over a month ago.
TSU tried a long pass for another chance at the lead, but sophomore forward Stephen Olowoniyi intercepted and was fouled on the play with 1.7 left. Olowoniyi would close out the scoring with a free throw as USI sealed the 77-75 win.
Individually, Harrison led three Eagles in double-digits with 19 points. The junior guard was seven-of-15 from the field and a blistering five-of-eight from long range.
Olowoniyi followed with 18 points on seven-of-10 from the field and four-of-eight from the line, while junior guard Jayland Randall rounded out the double-digit scorers with 15 points.